Hydrodynamic Instability of Ionization Front in HII Regions: From Linear to Nonlinear Evolution

A sample of 54 6.7-GHz methanol maser sources was monitored at HartRAO for 4 years, and 11 12.2-GHz methanol masers for 3 years. The majority of the maser features display a significant degree of variability but with a wide range of timescales and behaviors. Some maser features remained unvarying throughout the monitoring programme, while others showed sporadic flares or sudden drops in flux density. Yet another group show quasi-periodic and periodic variations. In some cases the maser features dropped below the detection limit for a significant length of time before increasing in intensity and reappearing.     

Optical observations of FY Persei

The results are presented of multi-channel photometry and spectroscopy of the suspected nova-like variable FY Per. These results suggest that FY Per may be a Herbig Ae/Be star rather than a nova-like variable.     

Multi-aquifer pumping test to determine cutoff wall length for groundwater flow control during site excavation in Tokyo, Japan

Multi-aquifer pumping tests, using a multi-screen pumping well and multi-level piezometers, were carried out for groundwater flow control in a large-scale excavation site in Tokyo, Japan. The site was underlain by multi-layered confined aquifers. In the tests, pumping was carried out using a multi-aquifer pumping well in which a screen depth was chosen arbitrarily. Changes in groundwater pressure heads in each aquifer were measured at each screen position of the multi-aquifer pumping well. Hydraulic conductivity (K) and specific storage (S _s) of not only aquifers, but also for low permeability layers between the aquifers, were estimated using the Cooper-Jacob method, and calibrated by a finite element method (FEM) groundwater model. Four different cutoff wall lengths were assumed for final excavation depth, and correlations among wall length, pumping discharge and drawdown at the back of the cutoff wall were obtained from simulations using the K and S _s parameters in the FEM model. Then, the most suitable wall length was selected based on the simulated correlations considering environmental condition, construction period and cost of the cutoff wall.     

Petrogenesis of greenstones from the Mino–Tamba belt, SW Japan: Evidence for an accreted Permian oceanic plateau

Permian greenstones in the Jurassic Mino–Tamba accretionary complex, southwest Japan, are divided into three distinct series on the basis of their geological occurrence, mineralogy, and geochemistry. A low-Ti series (LTS) is associated with Lower Permian chert and limestone, and is the most voluminous of the three series. The LTS shows slightly more enriched geochemical and isotopic characteristics than MORB. A transition series (TS) is mainly associated with Lower Permian chert, and has more enriched geochemical signatures than MORB. Its isotopic characteristics are divided into enriched and depleted types. A high-Ti series (HTS) occurs as sills and hyaloclastites within Middle Permian chert and as dikes intruding the TS. Some HTS rocks have high MgO contents. The HTS is characterized by enrichment in incompatible trace elements and an isotopic composition comparable to HIMU-type basalt. The geochemistry of the voluminous LTS is similar to that of the oceanic basalt series of the Kerguelen plateau, suggesting production by partial melting of a shallow mantle plume head below thick oceanic lithosphere in Early Permian time. We infer that the TS formed simultaneously at the margins of the mantle plume head. In contrast, the HTS may have resulted from partial melting of a deep mantle plume tail in Middle Permian time. Permian greenstones in the Mino–Tamba belt may have thus formed by superplume activity in an intra-oceanic setting. Given the presence of two known contemporary continental flood basalt provinces (Siberia and Emeishan) and some accreted oceanic plateau basalts, the vast magmatism of the Mino–Tamba oceanic plateau suggests a large-scale superplume pulse in Permian time. Accretion of oceanic plateaux may have played an important role in the growth of continental margins and island arcs in Japan and elsewhere in the circum-Pacific region.     

An Actively Controlled Wind Tunnel And Its Application To The Reproduction Of The Atmospheric Boundary Layer

An actively controlled wind tunnel equipped with multiple fansand airfoils has been developed, mainly for the purpose of reproducing the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) for wind engineering applications. Various fluctuating flows can be achieved in this wind tunnel by altering the input data of the fans and airfoils through computer control. In this study, the ABL is physically simulated in this wind tunnel, and particular attention ispaid to the simulation of the profile of Reynolds stress. The method of generating the fluctuating flow and the experimental results of reproducing the ABL are presented. As the results show, the spatial distribution of Reynolds stress is satisfactorily simulated, and the profiles of other statisticalturbulent parameters, such as mean velocity, turbulent intensity, integral scale and power spectrum are successfully reproduced simultaneously.     

Periodic response of a rigid block resting on a footing subjected to harmonic excitation

This study presents the dynamic behaviour of a rigid block which rests on a footing supported by a spring and a dashpot on a rigid base. The response of the rigid body is examined carefully when the base is excited by a harmonic force. It is found that a periodic motion appears in three different modes: stick-stick, stick-slip and slip-slip. The conditions that initiate the stick-stick and slip-slip modes are derived in explicit forms and the maximum sliding displacement is also obtained analytically. Useful dimensionless parameters are proposed for the presentation of the dynamic behaviour. The accuracy of results is confirmed by the response history computed by the Nigam-Jennings method.     

Ventilation revealed by the observation of dissolved oxygen concentration south of the Kuroshio Extension during 2012–2013

From the moored buoy observation at \(33.9^{\circ }\)N, \(144.9^{\circ }\)E south of the Kuroshio Extension (KE), we obtained Eulerian time series of dissolved oxygen concentration (DO) at 200, 400, and 600 m depths from June 2012 to March 2013. We observed ventilation by meso- and submesoscale processes that transport water southward across the KE jet. First, the cyclonic mesoscale eddy in June 2012 substantially depressed DO at depths of 400 and 600 m but maintained DO at 200 m, suggesting near-surface lateral transport of high-DO water derived from the north of the KE. Second, subduction of high-DO (>230 \({\upmu }\)mol kg\(^{-1}\)) water to a depth of 600 m was observed from early February to March 2013, associated with a mesoscale/submesoscale meandering of the KE jet. In mid-March 2013, shipboard hydrographic data were collected where the water mass at the mooring site would be advected by the eastward current on the southern flank of the KE. Based on these data, the subduction event was identified as an intrusion of an anomalously thick water mass from approximately 400–900 dbar. Ventilation of the subtropical mode water at a depth of 200 m around a subsurface DO maximum layer was detected as a rapid rise in DO in January 2013. This occurred after a significant seasonal decrease in DO at a rate of \(-0.130 \pm 0.007\) \({\upmu }\)mol kg\(^{-1}\) day\(^{-1}\) from July to December 2012.     

The Cretaceous Ofuku Pluton and Its Relation to Mineralization in the Western Akiyoshi Plateau,Yamaguchi Prefecture,Japan

The relationship between the magmatism of the Cretaceous Ofuku pluton and mineralization in and around the Akiyoshi Plateau, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan was investigated using a combination of field observation, petrographic and geochemical analyses, K–Ar geochronology, and fluid inclusion data. The Ofuku pluton has a surface area of 1.5 × 1.0 km, and was intruded into the Paleozoic accretionary complexes of the Akiyoshi Limestone, Ota Group and Tsunemori Formation in the western part of the Akiyoshi Plateau. The pluton belongs to the ilmenite‐series and is zoned, consisting mainly of early tonalite and granodiorite that share a gradational contact, and later granite and aplite that intruded the tonalite and granodiorite. Harker diagrams show that the Ofuku pluton has intermediate to silicic compositions ranging from 60.4 to 77.9 wt.% SiO₂, but a compositional gap exists between 70.5 to 73.4 wt.% SiO₂ (anhydrous basis). Modal and chemical variations indicate that the assumed parental magma is tonalitic. Quantitative models of fractional crystallization based on mass balance calculations and the Rayleigh fractionation model using major and trace element data for all crystalline phases indicate that magmatic fractionation was controlled mainly by crystal fractionation of plagioclase, hornblende, clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene at the early stage, and quartz, plagioclase, biotite, hornblende, apatite, ilmenite and zircon at the later stage. The residual melt extracted from the granodiorite mush was subsequently intruded into the northern and western parts of the Ofuku pluton as melt lens to form the granite and aplite. The age of the pluton was estimated at 99–97 Ma and 101–98 Ma based on K–Ar dating of hornblende and biotite, respectively. Both ages are consistent within analytical error, indicating that the Ofuku pluton and the associated Yamato mine belong to the Tungsten Province of the San‐yo Belt, which is genetically related to the ilmenite‐series granitoids of the Kanmon to Shunan stages. The aplite contains Cl‐rich apatite and REE‐rich monazite‐(Ce), allanite‐(Ce), xenotime and bastnäsite‐(Ce), indicating that the residual melt was rich in halogens and REEs. The tonalite–granodiorite of the Ofuku pluton contains many three‐phase fluid inclusions, along with daughter minerals such as NaCl and KCl, and vapor/liquid (V/L) volume ratios range from 0.2 to 0.9, suggesting that the fluid was boiling. In contrast, the granite and aplite contain low salinity two‐phase inclusions with low V/L ratios. The granodiorite occupies a large part of the pluton, and the inclusions with various V/L ratios with chloride daughter minerals suggest the boiling fluids might be related to the mineralization. This fluid could have carried base metals such as Cu and Zn, forming Cu ore deposits in and around the Ofuku pluton. The occurrence and composition of fluid inclusions in the igneous rocks from the Akiyoshi Plateau are directly linked to Cu mineralization in the area, demonstrating that fluid inclusions are useful indicators of mineralization.     

An anthophyllite-hornblende pair from Japan

Chemical, optical and X-ray powder data on coexisting anthophyllite and hornblende in an amphibolite are presented. Some chemical features of amphibole pairs are briefly discussed.     

Horizontal electric fields in the middle latitude

Three dimensional electric fields were measured at the altitude of about 27 km in the stratosphere over the Pacific Ocean about 200–400 km away from the Sanriku coast of Honsyu Island (L = 1·4) on 16–17 October 1973, which was magnetically disturbed. The average horizontal electric field thus measured is about 10 mV/m, and the electric field vectors made clockwise semidiurnal rotations rather than diurnal. Daily variation of this electric field was compared with data at L = 2·7–3·5 published by Mozer (1973) and was found to be very similar. This suggests that these electric fields are of common origin in the plasmasphere. From their mean daily variation it is estimated that the plasmaspheric convection is decreased in the night side and is increased in the day side by 200–300 m/sec, and there is an outward flow in the first half of the afternoon and an inward flow in the plasma bulge region of about 500 m/sec.